How does Diamond refute the argument that the failure to domesticate certain animals arose from cultural differences? What does the modern failure to domesticate, for example, the eland suggest about the reasons why some peoples independently developed domestic animals and others did not?



  • Diamond says that the failure to domesticate certain animals was not caused by culture itself
    • It was the animals themselves
  • There are many factors that were working against the people that were trying to domesticate the animals
    • Diet, Growth Rate, Breeding, Disposition, Panicky, Social structure Of Animals

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Zebras Fighting

  • Does it even make sense to try and raise this animal?
    • Would the animal produce more than it required to maintain
    • Was there enough land and resources to maintain and breed and domesticate the animal
CULTURAL DIFFERENCES WAS NOT A FACTOR IN WHY SOME CULTURES WERE SUCCESSFUL IN DOMESTICATING ANIMALS AND SOME WERE NOT.
  • Europe happened to have the most candidates to domesticate in the first place
  • It was because of the:
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    Geography

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    Biology
    • History of the particular continent
  • Australia and the Americas lost a large portion of the candidates there due to extinction by hunting
  • It did not have to do with smarts, it had to do with the availability of the animals, and the practicality of the animals.
  • It also had to do with the animals themselves